A Watery Death (A Missing Pieces Mystery Book 7) (22 page)

“Animals,” Tovi snarled. “We need something sharp to get out of this. We can dive into the water from here.”

“I think there’s only one thing to do. I’ll create a distraction. Be ready for your chance to get away.”

“What are you going to do, Dae?” Lilly asked.

“Just be ready,” I told her. “And don’t worry about me or look back. The two of you just get in the water.”

Tovi started to voice another protest, but I cut him off.

“Hey! Hey, you people down there. What’s going on? Let me out of here. I’m not a mermaid. I’m Dae O’Donnell, Mayor of Duck, North Carolina. I suggest you let me go before the Coast Guard gets here.”

The auction stopped, and the crowd of men on deck began talking loudly and pointing at the net. I didn’t recognize any of them, but I knew the man who came to see why the auction had stopped.

Dillon Guthrie.

From his recent emails, I had no idea that he was close to Duck. I thought he was still diving for lost artifacts in South America. I knew he was capable of anything from smuggling to murder if it made a profit. Selling a few seafolk, probably to collectors, was possible for him.

“Dae?” he yelled back at me. “Is that really you? I should have known you’d be in the thick of things.”

“Dillon. What are you doing here?”

“What I always do—follow the treasure. I heard about this particular treasure and had to see it for myself. You know how I am.” He chuckled. “I go where the money is.”

I heard him give the order for the net to be slowly lowered to the deck. One of his crew followed through, and the thick netting began to sink.

My eyes scanned the deck. The yacht was huge and extravagantly-appointed. Not as big as the Andalusia II, but a very nice size. Only the best for Dillon.

 I was searching for anything I could grab and throw back to Tovi and Lilly that they could use to cut the net. On my first pass, I didn’t see anything, but my eyes were burning from the sea water, and my vision wasn’t as good as it could be.

All the people on deck moved out of the way for the net, creating a circle around where we came down. Several crewmembers stood at attention with rifles in their hands, their eyes glued on their captives.

“Captain.” Dillon nodded to the short, round man who immediately jumped to do his bidding.

“Let me help you out there, Miss.” The stubby captain offered his hand to me.

Tovi was still outside the net, as I was. He had the best chance to get away.

Dillon must have realized the same thing. He pointed to one of the crewmembers, and that man fired a dart into Tovi’s back. The merman dropped to the deck. Lilly screamed and reached for him.

Once I was untangled from the net, I wasted no time marching up to Dillon and demanding that he release them.

“You know this is wrong. They could be the last two of their kind for all you know. Let them go, Dillon. You have plenty of money. Be compassionate for once.”

He reached a hand to my bedraggled clothes. “Steward, escort Mayor O’Donnell below deck to change. I’m sure you’ll find something in your size there, Dae. Come back up, and we’ll talk.”

In the meantime, he’d be auctioning his cargo.

I swept a frantic search across the deck again but didn’t see anything that could cut the net and release Lilly. I figured she could grab Tovi and jump overboard if she was free, but there was nothing to accommodate my plans.

“All right. Fine. Don’t do anything until I get back.” I knew he’d ignore me. But I stood a better chance below deck of finding something useful.

“No!” Lilly called out. “Don’t leave us, Dae.”

Her call made my stomach twist in knots, but I ignored her and followed the steward below deck. I couldn’t explain what I had in mind.

The man led me to a small stateroom that was tastefully decorated with sea motifs. There were also clothes of different sizes in the closet, most still with store tags on them, and a variety of toiletries in the bathroom. I pulled on a striped sundress, shorter than I liked, but it was quick. I’d lost my sandals in the ocean and found a pair my size.

The whole time, my mind was trying to formulate a plan to save my friends. I found scissors and a small paring knife in the suite, but neither of those tools would cut through the net. I ran a brush through my hair and went to the door, scanning the passageway for crewmembers.

No one was there. I started wondering where I could find something I could use. The galley? I ran down the passageway until I found it. But none of the knives looked sharp enough to cut through an industrial net. Maybe Dillon was paranoid about his chef having deadly utensils.

I left the galley, headed toward the engine room, and passed a closet marked utility. The door wasn’t locked, and I found a large pair of cutters inside. My sundress wasn’t big enough to conceal much of anything. I ran back to the stateroom and grabbed a shawl I’d seen in the closet.

Lilly wasn’t going to have much time to cut the net and escape, I realized. Even though they wouldn’t shoot them, they obviously didn’t mind tranquilizing them. My brain felt as though it was moving a hundred miles an hour as it went through all the places the cutters had been before they’d reached the utility room. Thank goodness the clothes and shawl were new. There wasn’t much involved in my awareness of them.

I saw the stairs going up to the deck and pasted my big mayor’s smile on my face as I ascended them. I was wearing the pink shawl, but had the clippers wrapped in the ends of it. If I could get close enough to the net, I could free Lilly before anyone even noticed.

The auction appeared to be over—I was right about that part. Tovi was still lying on the deck. Lilly was crying softly, her head bent over her legs that would become a tail as soon as she hit the water. The winners and losers were enjoying caviar and champagne as they ogled the two captives.

“There you are.” Dillon slipped an arm around me. His hand missed the end of the clippers by less than an inch. “You look great, Dae.” He kissed my cheek. “How is your little shop doing?”

“Missing Pieces is fine. Are you back for the third Augustine bell?”

It was the only attraction and mutual love that we shared—antiques and ancient societies.

“I knew you were a good bet to find the third bell.” He sipped his champagne from a crystal flute. “It’s your gift, attracting missing objects to you. I wish you’d come to Jamestown with me. It was incredible. I can’t wait to show you my finds.”

I almost didn’t recognize him. It was his voice that made me realize it was Dillon. He’d changed during his last treasure hunt, doing most of the diving himself. He was tan and fit with streaks of sun blond in his dark hair. He and I were almost the same height, but his shoulders and chest were muscular.

He’d asked me to go on the treasure hunt to the sunken pirate city of Jamestown, but I’d turned him down.  I wanted to see those strange and amazing things that he’d offered to show me, but I was tied to Duck with my heart.

“I can’t wait to see the pictures.” I reasoned that there was no point in alienating him and giving away my plot to free Lilly and Tovi. I accepted a glass of champagne and smiled.

“So what’s this about your seafolk?” He grinned. “Worried that you won’t get your share of the treasure?”

“No, Dillon. I know you’ll do anything for money, but this is like selling slaves. You have to let them go.”

“You know I’d do almost anything for you, Dae. But this is business. I’ve already auctioned your little seafolk. Will your conscience keep you from taking part of the profits?”

“I can’t.” I turned away from him. “I won’t do this. No amount of money would convince me. You know me that well.”

One of the men in a sharkskin suit called Dillon and beckoned to him. He left me standing there, only a few feet from Lilly. She stared up at me, her strange eyes questioning what I would do next.

A crewmember made the space between me and the net even shorter as he walked by with crackers and caviar. I reached for it and managed to upset his tray. Everything fell on the deck, and two other crew members came to his aid.

I managed to do a quick step around them as they tried to clean up. The net was against my leg, so I barely had to reach to cut a large part of it.

“Get Tovi and get away,” I whispered.

“Thank you.” Lilly got on her feet and put one hand through the hole.

I hid her movements as she extricated herself from the net. Tovi was only a yard away from us. He was starting to awaken, shaking his head and looking around.

“He’s awake, sir,” A crewmember with a rifle told Dillon. “You want me to lay him out again?”

Dillon responded with a laugh. “He doesn’t belong to me anymore. Ask Mr. Smith what he wants to do.”

All eyes turned to the man in the sharkskin suit. He was smearing caviar on a cracker and carefully balancing his champagne flute in the other hand.

There wouldn’t be a better opportunity.

“Go now,” I said to Lilly.

“But what about you?” she asked.

“He won’t do anything to hurt me. Go now!”

Lilly didn’t wait for another invitation. She grabbed Tovi in her arms and threw herself over the side. A huge splash came up and shot water crystals into the boat.

All the crewmembers ran to the side of the yacht, but it was too late. Tovi and Lilly had disappeared into the gray Atlantic. They would never find them.

Chapter Twenty-three

“Do you know how much that little stunt just cost me, Dae?” Dillon thundered.

“It was wrong. They weren’t things or treasures that could be found and sold. You had to let them go.”

I had no doubt I could convince Dillon of the rightness of Lilly and Tovi being free. I wasn’t worried about what he would do to me. He cared about me in some weird way. I knew he wouldn’t hurt me.

“Try telling that to the people who bought them and now can’t take them home.”

“Just give them their money back,” I suggested. “I’m sure they won’t care.”

“Honey, you don’t know the kind of people I do business with.” He reached out and ran his hand through my hair. “They want your head since they can’t have a mermaid.”

There wasn’t much I could say to that. I was pretty sure that wouldn’t happen. On the other hand, I knew he ran with a wealthy, dangerous crowd. Dillon was well-known for delivering the goods—drugs, treasures—if he said he had it, he had it. It was his reputation.

A discreet knock at the stateroom door where Dillon had taken me brought the steward in.

“Mr. Guthrie, your guests are leaving. They request your presence.”

I heard the whir of a helicopter as he spoke.

“All right, Jones. I’ll be right up.” When the steward was gone, Dillon smiled at me. “You owe me, Dae. You say you have the third Augustine bell?”

“I said a man came into the shop who said he had the bell. I can find him.”

“You do that. I’ll be in touch.”

He left me in the stateroom with specific instructions not to leave. No problem. Those caviar-eating customers on deck weren’t exactly my type. I didn’t have any reason to make friends with them, and if staying here spared my life, I’d stay.

But then I heard the sound of another vessel approaching. Apparently many of Dillon’s customers onboard had their own transportation within a short call away. I thought this was just another one of those until I heard a man’s voice on a loud speaker.

“Ahoy, Jamestown,” the voice said. “This is the Coast Guard. We are searching for Mayor Dae O’Donnell on a rescue mission. Please advise if you have seen her.”

It was getting light. I looked out the porthole and saw the gleaming blue and white Coast Guard vessel in close proximity. Gramps and Kevin were on the bow with the captain in his uniform.

“Looks like my ride is here.” I ran out of the stateroom and headed to the deck, despite Dillon’s orders.

The helicopter I’d heard had pontoons and was floating in the water beside Dillon’s vessel. Two other luxury yachts were close by, their passengers being picked up by skiffs heading from them to the Jamestown.

“Dae, I told you to stay below,” Dillon protested.

I waved to Gramps and Kevin with both hands. “I’m going home. It looks like most of your party is over. I guess I’ll see you later.”

He grabbed my hand. “I would never hurt you. You know that, right? I would’ve taken you back to Duck after everyone left.”

“I know.” I smiled at him. “At least I was pretty sure. Thanks for telling me.”

“You know we could be awesome together.” He grinned and took my other hand, turning me away from the Coast Guard ship. “There’s no treasure we couldn’t find. Your Missing Pieces could be a world market.”

What could I say? Dillon had always represented a siren’s song for me. Yes, he was bad. He’d done terrible things. But he and I both had our hearts wrapped up in the mysteries of the past. I could never be with him the way he wanted. Our only attraction was this one shared love.

“I think you remind me too much of my pirate ancestor, Rafe Masterson. I don’t want to live your life. You don’t belong in mine. Come to Missing Pieces when you can, and we’ll settle up  the bells. But that’s all we have together, Dillon. I’m sorry.”

He smiled sadly and leaned his head closer to kiss my cheek. “I like that you think of me as a pirate, Dae, since I know how much you like them. I’ll drop by soon. In the meantime, what are you going to tell the Coast Guard?”

 “The truth. I fell off the pier looking for the mermaid and got tangled in your fishing net.”

“Good story. I think you have more pirate blood in you than you think.”

Dillon sent me to the Coast Guard ship in a skiff. A member of the crew helped me out of the boat and up the ladder to the deck.

Gramps and Kevin were quick to hug me and welcome me aboard. The Coast Guard captain insisted on debriefing me before he would allow Dillon’s yacht to leave.

I told him exactly what I’d told Dillon I would say. The captain was skeptical at first, since someone had mentioned that I’d been kidnapped.

“Are you sure no one coerced you into being aboard the
Jamestown
?” he demanded.